Podcast Tuesday- August 15, 2017

Podcasts: 1121

Welcome to Podcast Tuesday, where the numbers only rise.

I’ve added a couple of casts to my roster.  Becoming Wise and Get Your SH*T Together.  I have listened to neither yet but Becoming Wise is a short pod released by On Being so I suspect that I’ll like it.

I was really proud of myself this past week because I listened a lot.  Alas, it has made very little dent in my backlog.  I think that I just subscribe to too many Podcasts.  I can’t help it though!  There’s so much out there and I treat them quite like books.  There’s one for everything that I think I want to learn about.  This week I read something about Teddy Roosevelt and I was like, “Hey!  I should listen to the Presidential podcast!”  But I can’t bring my little OCD heart to start in the middle and, anyway, I’m still catching up on On Being.

When LD (Little Dude) was born, I simplified my reading life and it feels good to have a simplified reading life.  Stephen King, book, book, YA.  I should never really know what I am reading more than one book ahead.  For instance,  I am reading Night Circus right now (book 1) and I know that my next book is Rules of Engagement but I can’t choose my YA until I finish book 1.  It’s very freeing, actually.  I can read something that I’m dying to read relatively soon.  But I have nothing like this for Podcasts.

Sure, sure.  I could come up with something.  And I AM thinking about it.  I am thinking that maybe I will listen to an audio and then catch up on a Podcast, the whole thing!  At this moment I have about 48 hours of On Being stocked up.  That’s two whole days!  Hubby had a subscription to Audible and for a while he would only buy “long” audiobooks. I just asked him what he defined as a long audiobook and he said about 25 hours.  And I have one podcast with 267 episodes saved up!

To put it into perspective, I am currently listening to the Anne of Green Gables series and they run about 8 hours a piece.  It takes me two weeks to get through one in the car because I talk to my mom on the phone every day either to or from work.  Two weeks for 8 hours!  That means I would be listening to On Being for.. hold on… math… 6 weeks!  Now, it would be less time because I listen at home but still…  That’s a lot.

And I do like On Being.  I was skeptical at first because the first one I listened to was a discussion with a physicist on science and beauty and I was drinking a nice Michigan beer and thinking, “Okay.  Whatever.”  But I do like it.  Discussions about poetry and religion and information and mourning and mindfulness.  It’s kind of great.

I’m not calling my listening life a curse, though.  I’ll NEVER run out of things to listen to.  Even if there is a nuclear war, as long as I have a power source…  I’m counting on Canada for that one.

Podcast Tuesday- August 8, 2017

Podcasts 1111

Last week I somehow managed to catch up on all of the podcasts that I had fallen behind on that I had previously been caught up with and I started venturing into the world of On Being with Krista Tippet again.  It felt good.  It felt great.  “Wow,” I thought.  “I am really making some progress.”

I was productive while I did it.  I cleaned the house.  I cleaned the decks.  I bathed the baby.  I felt good.  I felt great.

And then this week happened.

I mean, I guess that I should dwell on how awesome last week was instead of being all like, sad trombone.

I am currently spending a lot of time thinking about why I don’t do the things that I want to do.  Really.  Why don’t I?  I mean, when I get home from work tonight I can spend an hour with LD before he goes to bed and then I could, like, actually do stuff for a couple of hours instead of doing nothing.  Imagine that.

I want to sit on the back deck and color and listen to podcasts the same way that I want to read my damn book.

As for now, I am making a goal to do more of what I want a little more often.

Podcast Tuesday- August 1, 2017

Podcasts: 1095

I’m going through a thing.  What?  I am willing to admit it.  It’s just that I have become aware that I am not particularly happy with my life at present.  It’s difficult to untangle because I do LOVE my life.  I LOVE my husband and baby and cats and family and friends and house and even my job.  But I spend every day feeling like this isn’t actually the life I want, feeling like I am trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, feeling like I don’t actually get much joy and that nobody, not even me, asks me what I need.  Maybe it is the curse of being a woman and feeling responsible for, say, everyone’s happiness.  Where is my own?

With these thoughts, I’d like to lead you into a podcast that I listened to this morning.

It was probably a year ago that I discovered the Fat Feminist Witch Podcast.  Around the time that I found out I was pregnant, I began to wonder about a lot of things.  One of those was religion.  Hubby is decidedly against organized religion and unsure of any larger entity or meaning to life but willing to debate.  I am, well… Ugh.  I was raised Christian and went to church once in a while with my grandma or my cousins.  My mother is a spiritualist and my father was a “recovering Catholic.”  At age 12 I started poking around at Wicca and by 14 was calling myself a witch and a Pagan and was practicing.  My parents were always supportive.  To be honest, I found a lot of happiness in Paganism.  I felt rooted and strong and faithful but it fell to the wayside.  Why?  I just got lazy, first, and then I went through my existential period and then it just seemed hard to get back into.

I asked Hubby what religion we should raise LD in, Hubby answered, “Paganism.”  And I realized that I was so far out of it that I needed something easy to just get me tied back in.  With a name like Fat Feminist Witch, how could I not listen??

And I loved it from the start.  I listened as they came out and eagerly awaited the next.  One thing, I don’t usually listen to interviews so the last few episodes have been skipped.  I don’t like the sound quality of interviews on a lot of podcasts and I’m fine with missing these.

For the month of August, she talked with the creators of a #30daymagicalrootschallenge that can be found at Plentiful Earth.  I listened this morning which was perfect because I am going to attempt it.  Day one is divination which is perfect because I really felt the need to put my hands on some cards today.  I sat down this morning with my tarot and pulled a card for the month.  A small step, but a great one.

We all have ruts.  We all have funks.  And I’m ready to break out of mine.  How about you?

Podcast Tuesday- July 25, 2017

Podcasts: 1084

I feel like I should be walking around with my hands behind my back, whistling innocently.  Who hasn’t been listening to podcasts?  Not me!  I’m a perfect angel!

Last week at one point I got caught back up on the ones I had fallen behind on again and started in on the next one on my list, On Being with Krista Tippet.  It felt good.  I look forward to knocking out On Being because for some reason it shows up like three times in my “storage use” list and it takes up TONS of space.  If I just catch up, I’d probably free up a lot of room.

But I have two audiobooks out and Hubby and I have been just hanging out around the house and we all know that I don’t listen to podcasts while he’s around because I listen to his podcasts or him.

I had been meaning to take a short break after my current audiobook to play some listening catch-up but then I had apparently already ordered my next audiobook.  Again, library things get out of control with me.

You know what I should do?  When it’s nice out and the baby has gone to bed, I should take my phone and my coloring book outside and just sit at the deck table and color and listen and maybe even have a beer.  Doesn’t that sound divine?

I love this little Tuesday thing I’m doing, making excuses for just not doing something that I really want to do.  It’s real indicative of my life. lol

Podcast Tuesday- July 18, 2017

Podcasts 1059

A staple in my household is The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor.

Now, my first interaction with anything Keillor was when I was 16 and started working at the library.  There was a book on the shelf called Lake Wobegon Days and between the title and the cover I was pretty sure that it was some classic that I would end up reading sooner or later.  As I aged and went on to college, I felt sure every time that I saw it on the shelf that it was probably like A Lost Lady by Willa Cather meets The Legend of Bagger Vance.  I got all of that from the cover.

I have NEVER read the book.

BUT when I met my husband, he was really into NPR and I was like, “Lame.  So lame.  Talk radio?  Why aren’t you listening to the rock station?”  (I listen to the WRIF out of Detroit these days.  The closer rock station is a bit too fucking chauvinistic for me.)  Hubby would turn it on while we were in the car and I would listen politely.  Then one day I realized that I wasn’t listening politely.  I was listening.  Then the radio in my office (read: storage closet with no windows, but with a door and radio) quit picking up anything except the adult contemporary station.  (I’m sorry…  “Yesterday and today’s greatest hits and nights with Delilah.”)  I turned on NPR and listened.

So, two things ended up happening.  First, I just kind of heard Prairie Home Companion while we were out and about and naturally took to it (Though, after I saw the movie?  IDK.  What is my life?).  Second, I was told about these things called Podcasts.  There was even an app on my shiny new iPhone to listen to them on.  The first thing that I did was search for “writing” because I always need inspiration and the first podcast that popped up was The Writers Almanac.  And I was sold.

Every day one of these five minute casts shows up on my phone.  It starts with interesting tidbits, a “today in history” kind of thing that features author birthdays or inventions or anniversaries or background info on whatever holiday it is.  Then there is a poem.  That’s it!  Just that little bit!  Only five minutes!  But I listen to it every morning.  It’s the first podcast I listen to in the morning.  I listen to it while I’m feeding the baby or when I take a shower.  (Fun fact: When I listen to it while showering, it always ends when I am in the middle of shaving my right (first) leg.  Always.)  It gives a kind of rhythm to my morning, gets me going the same way coffee does.

And we all need coffee and rhythms and inspiration, don’t we?

Podcast Tuesday- July 11, 2017

Podcasts: 1044

I am having one of those weeks…

The holiday threw me off.  LD was teething and going through a growth spurt, making him miserably fussy all last week.  We had plans all weekend long.  Work is crazy busy.  The house is filthy.  Hubby has been cranky.  I feel like my plate is full and I had to go back for a second plate.

So, I’m basically over here watching my podcasts pile up along with my TV shows, books, and audiobooks.  My chores are barely getting done and I am going to have to put my foot down and spend a day or two cleaning this weekend.  Plus, I have plants to pot and a front yard to clean up and more stuff to buy that I don’t have money for.

Deep breath!  In and out.

I wish that I could truly convey to you the unorganized chaos that is my mind right now.  I feel like I am trying to home the world together with my feet and juggling the rest of the planets with my hands.  And I know that if I could just settle down to something and finish it, it would be all good.  If I dedicated myself to a book, a show, a podcast and just caught up, it would feel so much better.  If I made a budget, maybe, or a grocery list.  If I mapped out who has LD what day for the rest of the month or even just found a strapless bra that fit for the wedding I have to attend in two and a half weeks.  If I could just finish something.  Anything.

A podcast would be good.  How would you feel if I told you that I am literally in the middle of THREE podcasts.

One:  This week’s BookRiot, which I started this morning but didn’t get to finish before getting out of the house.

Two: The latest 99% Invisible, which is actually about skateboarding which I really love.  I’ve listened to it in about five spurts and still haven’t finished.  I would actually restart it except that I really remember what we’re talking about because it is so damn fascinating.

Three:  The latest Literary Disco.  I tried to push my way through it in my off desk time yesterday but got interrupted because I’m the only person who can figure out how to make paracord bracelets #imalmostarealgirl.  Then I tried again when I got home, settling LD in a “de-working” but hubby came home before I managed to finish it.

It has to be the week, with all of it’s distractions and my never ending migraine.  I’m sure I’ll settle down soon.

Podcast Tuesday- June 27, 2017

Podcasts: 1006

Confession:  When I first started listening to On Being, I was not into it.  It was one of those weird things.  You know what I mean?  Like when I first watched The Anchorman and thought it wasn’t funny at all until I started quoting it and then realized I loved it.  It’s kind of like that.

I don’t recall what my actual first episode was but on this attempt at catching up, Krista Tippet was interviewing a physicist about beauty and math and science.  Okay, in all fairness I was listening to this while I had a couple of beers and hung out around the house by myself.  It was night when I was feeling tired and frustrated and Hubby was off playing games with his brother.  I had a really nice beer to drink and it was warm but cloudy out.  I stood at the deck rail and smoked while I listened and looked around the back yard (and the three back yard surrounding my back yard).  It felt pointless.  Like, why was I listening to a physicist explain the science of beauty?  Plus, as a rule, I don’t like interviews.

But I listened.  And then I listened to another a couple of days later.  And then another.  And then this weekend I found myself catching up on the 57 episodes I had downloaded on my phone and really enjoying it.

I don’t actively listen to all of it.  Sometimes it goes in one ear and out the other.  But there have been things that have stuck with me.  A discussion on grief while I was cleaning the nursery at a time when I was really missing my dad.  Or Elizabeth Gilbert discussing creativity and her book Big Magic which I had recently read.  Riding home from work while listening to a talk about mindfulness.

What I’m saying is that it’s grown on me.  Driving home last night, I was wondering if I was the kind of person who would apply these ideas to my life.  I always wanted to be peaceful and wise and mindful.  But I also love the drama of life, the little trials and tribulations that keep life interesting.